Semicylindrical-stereotype-plate trimmer.



J. 1:". FREY. SEMIGYLINDRIGAL STEREOTYPE PLATE TR'IMMER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 19, 1911.

Patented May 28, 1912.

COLUMBIA PLANQGRAPH co.. WASHINGTON. n. n

SEMIiCYLINDRICAL-STEREOTYPE-PLATE TRIMIVIER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 28,1912.

Application tiled May 19, 1911. Serial No. 628,330.

To all whom t may concern: c

Be it known that I, JOHN FREMONT Finir, a citizen of the United States,residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Semicylindrical-StereotypeIlate Trimmers, of which the following is a specification.

There is at the present time upon the market a machine, known as anautomatic curved stereotype plate finishing and cooling machine, whichis so designed as to receive curved stereotype plates from the castingbox, trim the same ready for placing in the press, and properly cool itfor transference to the press. Such an apparatus is eminently successfulif sutlicient time is allowed to elapse bet-Ween the pouring of themetal and its transference to the machine in question but if, understress of hurry incidentto a special edition, or otherwise, theoperators remove the plates from the casting box and begin manipulationthereof in the machine in question at too early a period, I havefoundthat a large percentage of loss occurs.

The object of my present invent-ion is, therefore, to provide anattachment to or improvement of the said machine in order to overcomethis diiiiculty and thereby materially increase the speed at whichcomplete stereotype plates may be produced and delivered to the pressroom. y

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the above mentioned machine equippedwith my improvements; Fig. 2 a fragmentary horizontal section showing myimprovements; Fig. 3 a transverse section through the trimmer head, andFig. 4 an axial sect-ion of one of my attachments.

In the drawings, 10 indicates the main body of the machine to whichreference has been made. This machine comprises a saddie 11 having asemicylindrical delivery end 12 which is machined to fit snugly thestereotype plate 20. Arranged upon opposite sides of the saddle 11, infront of the portion 12, are horizontal guide surfaces 13, 13, whichdeliver to rotating milling cutters 14, 14, which are so arranged as totrim the opposite axial edges 15 of the stereotype plate. The plate isdriven by hand over the cutters 14 along the saddle 11 and, by theportion 12 is guided into the trimmer read 1G in which the plate istrimmed and properly chamfered at its ends. From this head the plate isdelivered to the cooling chamber 17. Thus far the structure is onecommonly in use and I have found that in the operation of such astructure if I take a plate `from the casting box too soon so that themetal is not firmly set, although still apparently of suiiicienthardness, there will be a slight sagging of the plate on the sadr*dleand a consequent very slight outward expansion of the edges or ends ofthe semicylinder so that, when the plate is projected into the trimmerhead, the type faces of a few of the type lines immediately adjacent theedges of the plate will contact with the inner face of the trimmer headin such manner as to become scratched and so marred as to ruin the platefor use. sagging of the plate is very small indeed, but, as will berecognized, a difference of one-hundredth of an inch or even less in theheight of the type is very appreciable in the printed result.

In my operation of a machine of this class, I have discovered that allpossible injury of the plate in the manner described may be avoided inthe following manner: Upon the receiving end of the trimmer head, atdiametrically opposite points relative to the guide 12, I iirmly clamp abracket 25 which, at its inner end, carries a roller 2G, the axis ofwhich is at right angles to the axis of the saddle 11 and the plate 20.The roller 26 is formed of any suitable cushion material, such, forinstance, as leather, hard felt, etc., of such character that, while itis capable of exerting a very iirm clamping force upon the plate, itwill, nevertheless, be so yielding as to accommodate itself to the typeface of the plate without marring the type. The brackets 25 are boltedto the trimmer head 16 by bolts 27 or otherwise, said bolts preferablypassing through slots 2S in the bracket so that t-he rollers 26 may beaccurately adjusted relative to the saddle guide 12. The brackets, ofcourse, might be backed up by heavy springs but these are not at allnecessary and, therefore, I prefer to omit them. In practice, I havefound that with this attachment I am able to take the plates from thecasting box much sooner than heretofore and yet run them through themachine without danger of loss by scratching, whereas heretofore it wasnot at all unusual to lose as high as forty per This expansion or facearranged to act upon the type face of the plate as it enters the trimmerhead to prevent spread of the edges of the plate l5 Without marring thetype faces.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal atIndianapolis, Indiana, this 16th day of May, A. D. one thousand ninehundred and eleven.

JOHN FREMONT FREY. [n s] itnesses ARTHUR M. Hoon, FRANK A. FAHLE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. C.

